VanDam Did Shad Spawn, But P.M. Crank Factored Huge

Sometimes, events are won on a single pattern where the angler hits it either briefly, or milks it all day long. Then there are those events where the winner works multiple patterns.

One example was the prior two Clarks Hill Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments, where the no-brainer bite was topwater schooling fish, but the winners figured out how to catch fish during the down-times.

Last week's Guntersville Bassmaster Elite Series in Alabama was sort of like that. The morning bite was again the no-brainer – pretty much everybody took a spinnerbait and ran grasslines where the shad were spawning. Some caught better morning fish than others, but in the end, the afternoon bite was what made the difference.

Winner Kevin VanDam – currently the No. 1 ranked angler in the BassFan World Rankings presented by Tru-Tungsten – had the afternoon bite nailed. In fact, he was so dialed in, he stunned the field with a 25-pound sack on day 4, which he credited in large part to his afternoon crankbait pattern. It was no contest, and he won by a massive 7-02 margin.

It marked his 11th career BASS win, but it was his first Elite Series victory. Here's how he did it.

Practice

VanDam has fished Guntersville on and off since 1989, so he knows the lake well. And he finished 4th here last year.

He said he had a "really good practice," helped in part by the shad-spawn bite, which he'd also fished the year before.

"It didn't take me long to get on that program the first day of practice," he said. "They were really biting it good, and I caught a lot of big fish."

What he also knew, though, was that few secrets remain at Guntersville. He therefore passed over some of the better areas he'd fished in the past.

"It was just a matter of trying to find some of the places I thought would be a little obscure," he noted. "The real textbook spots had fish on them, but they get a lot of pressure too.

"I put together a couple of good areas, and some good spots, and found some cranking water to fish after the shad-spawn (bite). The (shad-spawn bite) kind of tapers off after the morning."

He found a "pretty neat" cranking spot that he'd never fished before. About that area, he said: "They were coming to it from a big spawning area, and I was able to catch them pretty good."

That would turn out to be his key area. He decided to save it as long as he could, and didn't fish it until the final afternoon.

Competition

> Day 1: Cancelled due to weather
> Day 2: 5, 21-04
> Day 3: 5, 19-10
> Day 4: 5, 25-05
> Total = 15, 66-03

VanDam started day 2 with a spinnerbait on the shad-spawn bite, but there were a number of boats on his starting area.

He said: "It just wasn't happening, so I just kept moving. After a little while, I hit a spot and was able to catch three or four decent ones on a spinnerbait, and ended up with a limit."

After that, it was upgrade time. He visited a few of his crankbait spots (but not the one he was saving). One that he "sort of snuck into" produced seven fish in seven casts. He then exited quickly and quietly.

He ended day 2 in 3rd, 4-15 behind then-leader Terry Butcher.

VanDam started day 3 with a spinnerbait again, out on a ledge, and never got a bite. Then he moved to another piece of structure and didn't get bit where he expected to.

"They'd moved a couple hundred yards," he said. After he contacted them again, he and his partner caught a "handful, and lost a few, and moved around to a couple of other places and just kind of scrounged them out."

He noted: "One of the things that I think really helped me was my Biosonix. I was running it with an active shad pattern up into the day, and it seemed I could keep them on my spinnerbait all day long. The other guys said their shad were done at 10:00 or whatever, so I think the Biosonix was a big plus here."

That was pretty much his day 3. He caught 19-10 – which put him 4th again, but just 1-11 behind Butcher – and his co-angler, Bryan Talmadge, won the amateur division.

VanDam noted: "With it being only a 3-day tournament, I knew I needed to catch quality. I spent most of my time on what I thought were the places holding quality fish."

Day 4 delivered a drastic change in conditions. Gone were the clouds and wind, and most of the field struggled with the morning bite. The sun and dead-still conditions ended the shad-spawn party almost before it started.

VanDam started slow too. He didn't get bit on his first stop, then lost a few on his second stop. "They weren't biting the bait real good," he noted.

That's when he picked up and headed to his cranking spot that he'd been saving.

"I caught a limit there, and a couple of good ones early," he said. "That gave me the confidence to really slow down and fish some of those areas where I was throwing a spinnerbait. I just really slowed up the bait. I was real methodical on those stretches of grass where I knew the fish had been sitting before."

Pattern Notes

VanDam caught all his fish on two baits – a 1/2-ounce 1/2-ounce Strike King Kevin VanDam Tournament Series spinnerbait, and a Strike King Series 5 Tour Grade crankbait.

About his areas, he said: "I was fishing main-river ledges, main-lake points, and humps near the main lake. A lot of the water I was in was on the main river channel. The fish had spawned and pulled out to there. The areas had a mix of hydrilla and milfoil – the two together.

"I also fished some at the mouths of creeks. One of my best places was at the mouth of a creek where the fish were coming out to after spawning. That's where the shad are, and that's where the bass want to be – closer to the current."

Technique Notes

About how he worked the spinnerbait, VanDam said: "I'd pretty much throw it up top (on the hump, ledge or point) and slow-roll it off the edge. When it got caught in the grass, I'd kind of rip it free. And I'd kind of have to shake the spinnerbait a little to get them to eat it. The main thing was to get it (ticking) the tops of the grass."

With the crank, he took more of a quartering approach to the grass, meaning, if his boat was parallel to the grass, he'd cast ahead of the boat (toward the grass) at a 45-degree angle.

"I'd try to get it just in the (deep) edge of the grass and rip it free," he said. "The Series 5 really runs about 10 to 12 feet (deep), but I was throwing it on 17-pound fluorocarbon to help rip it out of the grass, and make it run a little shallower."

He added that most of his crankbait bites came in the 5- to 12-foot zone, and that the bite got a lot better when it was flat-calm and bright. Still, he switched between the two baits all 3 days.

"You could get them to react to that better (in those conditions), but I alternated both baits. I'd come across a school with a spinnerbait and throw it until I got no more bites, then I'd throw the crank and catch a few more."

Winning Gear Notes

> Spinnerbait gear: 6'10" medium-heavy Quantum Kevin VanDam spinnerbait rod, Quantum PT Tour Edition 1160 casting reel (6.2:1), 20-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS monofilament, 1/2-ounce Strike King Kevin VanDam Tournament Series spinnerbait (blue shad, double willow-leafs in various combinations of gold and silver).

> The spinnerbait is made by Strike King, but is available exclusively through Bass Pro Shops. It comes with a Perfect Skirt and pre-rigged Mustad trailer hook – upgrades not found on the traditional KVD Pro Model spinnerbait.

> On why he threw the spinnerbait on mono, he said: "With fluorocarbon, there's too much sensitivity for me, and the rod is so sensitive, that I end up not letting the fish get the bait as well. Mono also has a little more give, and I like a little bit of stretch there."

> Crankbait gear: 7' medium-heavy Quantum Tour Edition fiberglass cranking rod, Quantum Energy PT 750 casting reel (5.1:1), 17-pound Bass Pro Shops XPS fluorocarbon, Strike King Series 5 Tour Grade crankbait (shad color).

> He swapped out the stock hooks on the crank for No. 2 Mustad Extra Strong Ultra Point trebles.

The Bottom Line

> Main factor in his success – "I've got a lot of confidence in the way I like to fish. And following those grasslines at Guntersville is a lot like fishing the grasslines at home in Michigan."

> Performance edge – "It would be between my Biosonix unit and having a GPS that's accurate. The Biosonix unit was a big key in keeping the shad active to where I could catch them all day long. I just have a lot of confidence in it. And the places they were on were so precise – to be able to go back to an area after you fish it, without a doubt, that was (critical). I'm not sponsored by Lowrance, but those units are very good. Pair that with a Biosonix and a good spinnerbait, and it's pretty hard to beat."

Notable

> VanDam put even more distance between himself and 2nd-place Denny Brauer on the all-time BASS career earnings list. With his Guntersville cash, he's won more than $2,345,000 with BASS. Brauer's total is a little more than $2,177,000.

> Prior to Guntersville, VanDam's most recent win was the 2005 Bassmaster Classic at Pittsburgh.

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